Facebook has suspended our Pinjra Tod account (not the page, maybe its next?) destroying in one move all the networks we had built over the last few months. This while hundreds of sexist and misogynist troll accounts and pages exist all over Facebook.

We can see where the Modi-Zuckerberg friendship is heading. Women’s voices of dissent and assertion are being constantly silenced on social media. We also see this as part of the continuing attack on the student movement. No matter how many times we report the accounts and comments of right-wing trolls who threaten us with abusive language, who threaten us with sexual violence and rape, FB barely every disables their accounts. Digital India, eh?

We staunchly oppose Facebook’s highly problematic and non-accountable ‘real name’ policy which has lead to systematic targeting of activist groups and movements. It also completely refuses to acknowledge how crucial it is for many women to be able to use different names on social media, often for their safety, given the surveillance, policing and violence they face from families societies and institutions.